Another Long Day
by zelasswilder
Summary: “What a stupid girl. The entire medical staff knew better than her.” “Knew better than her to what?” Nappa asked. “To help you imbecile monkeys." 3rd person Nappa POV


**Summary: **Nappa is searching for young teenage Prince Vegeta in Frieza's ship. He comes across Vegeta talking to a young girl in the confines of the medical bay- trying to talk her into healing him with the rehabilitation tank, something Frieza had told the medical staff specifically not to do. (3rd person Nappa's POV)

**Author's Notes: **Huh. I guess I'm hooked. This is my second DBZ work in two days. I did family!Vegeta. Now here's teenage!Vegeta. It's more from Nappa's perspective. Frieza is also not directly in this work because I just don't trust myself to do his character justice.

I own nothing except for the concept of Hopkins.

* * *

Another long day. It seemed like every single day on this forsaken ship just got longer and longer as time passed. This day, in particular, was weighing down on him like the world was set on his shoulders. The world. 'Hah, what a joke,' Nappa scoffed to himself. Vegeta-sei was destroyed. There wasn't a world depending on him- especially not Vegeta-sei. Just one lonely prince.

He'd been awake and walking around for about 6 hours and the day wasn't even half-way done yet. Nappa continued padding down the hallways of Frieza's ship with a frown. He was a bit irritated that Raditz was off training- it made it ten times harder for him to search all the corridors of the ship without help. He had to find Prince Vegeta.

The young teenager had been, regrettably, last seen heading to Frieza's quarters. That made Nappa's stomach churn and he shook his head quickly- his little blob of hair on top of his head shaking with it. 'No, Frieza wouldn't kill him. Not yet. He'd kill Raditz or me before he killed Prince Vegeta. Even if that kid is a pain in the ass, he's worth the effort.'

Ever since he'd been sent out on the missions they'd been accomplishing ten times more conquering than before. Frieza wouldn't kill Vegeta because of that.

But what did that leave? He was probably not in good-shape, Nappa decided. Vegeta very rarely left that lizard's room in 'good-shape'. He was so stubborn though, he just wouldn't take any help.

Nappa shook his head once more and he reached a door. It was the medical bay. It didn't hurt to check the rehabilitation tanks, if Vegeta was hurt and could walk he would have taken himself there.

Opening the door, he slid inside silently. Nappa looked around to see it was rather vacant for once. "Prince Vegeta?" he called out, taking a step forward. He shut his mouth before calling out again and he began to listen to the voices around the side of one of the rehabilitation tanks.

"I think Nappa is looking for you, Prince Vegeta," a girl was saying softly.

"Let him look. I'll just order him to leave," Vegeta's voice came, rough and soft. He seemed strained. Obviously Frieza had hurt him. Vegeta was normally in about ten times as much pain as he portrayed outwardly. If it was coming through his voice that meant he was in agony.

Nappa slipped over to the door and opened it, closing it again before sliding back behind the rehabilitation tank to resume eavesdropping.

"See? He's left," Vegeta was probably shrugging, Nappa suspected. And by the way he couldn't sense his energy, Nappa also figured that Vegeta was preoccupied with this conversation with the girl.

Nappa peaked over the side of the regeneration tank to see Vegeta's back to him as he spoke to the woman.

'Ahhh,' Nappa mused, 'The Balikeian nurse, Hopkins.' She was pretty in an angelic sort of way. Blonde hair that framed her porcelain skin. The abnormalities of her race were the pink eyes that were currently overlooking Vegeta's wounds and a canine tail that flicked out behind her.

Her impish face looked at the prince, she was about 5'10" and dwarfed the young Saiyan but they were around the same age, Nappa was sure.

"You should call him back, Prince Vegeta," Hopkins said simply, as she spoke her long fangs were visible to Nappa and Vegeta. "You'll need his help going back to your quarters with these wounds."

"You could just let me in the regeneration tanks and I'll be able to get around just fine without any lackeys," Vegeta persuaded coyly.

"Lord Frieza ordered the entire medical staff to lock you out of this room. To let you use the tanks is like committing suicide," Hopkins scrunched her nose at the very suggestion.

"Lord Frieza doesn't have to find out," Vegeta retorted.

Hopkins lifted her head up from wrapping his arm and stared into his eyes for a long time. Nappa watched, eager to see if his prince would take his very first kiss with the Balikeian girl.

"He doesn't have to, but you know just like I do that he will," were the cold words that came from the girls mouth instead.

"And what would he do? You can plead ignorance," Vegeta shrugged, "Say you never got the memo and that I threatened you."

It was silent and Hopkins stood up from her knelt position. Her legs were long and she resembled a young deer in Nappa's mind. The grace she had as she slid around the room was unrivaled by the rest of the species he'd seen on the ship. The Balikeian race were known for their understanding of the medical world. They were the best to have working a regeneration tank and Frieza knew that. That's why he'd conquered the planet before he'd ever gone to Vegeta-sei. It was also why he hadn't wiped out the race to a small endangered minority.

"I'm risking a lot by even talking to you, Prince Vegeta," her words were tight as she approached a regeneration tank. Luckily for Nappa, it wasn't near him.

"And I acknowledge that, Hopkins," Vegeta curtly said, his head lifted a little to watch her walk around. Nappa's stomach churned at seeing the burn marks on the teenagers face and the bruises on the suddenly fragile-seeming neck of the Saiyan prince. Vegeta blew his bangs out of his face with a little huff before returning his attention to the tall girl.

Hopkins, silent like most of the lower-ranked staff members tended to be, pressed a few buttons on the regeneration tanks control pad. Her wolf tail flicking simply behind her as she bit her lip and thought as she reached a problem in whatever she was doing as she entered the data. "I'm going to say you were injured during a spar with Raditz," she informed the small warrior.

"Please," Vegeta scoffed arrogantly, "Raditz can't even catch me."

"Well, you're having an off day," Hopkins retorted and she entered the last password before walking to Vegeta. "Can you stand?"

Vegeta nodded and slowly eased up, looking unbelievably tiny next to the blonde. He took one step forward and almost toppled forward. Nappa gasped, about to run out and the last hope of the Saiyan race to see Hopkins swiftly grab the back of his body-suit. She pulled him onto his feet and looked at him in irritation.

"Don't lie to me for belligerences sake," she huffed.

"I wasn't lying. I stood just fine," Vegeta spat.

"Well, the aftermath of walking doesn't seem to be your strong point right now. Put your arm around my waist, Prince."

Nappa watched as Vegeta stepped slowly to the regeneration tank. Hopkins helped him inside and she smiled at him briefly before shutting the tank. "Put on your mask," she ordered.

"I'm aware of what to do," Vegeta snapped, "I've been in the tank more than I've been in my own bedroom."

Hopkins' expression softened and she frowned, "Maybe you should respect Lord Frieza more."

"He wiped out my race! He treats me like his own personal punching bag and toy! Respect is the last thing he deserves from a royal such as myself!" Vegeta yelled angrily and Hopkins lowered her head for a long time as Vegeta fastened himself in completely.

"… I'm filling it up, Prince," Hopkins said after a long moment.

"About time," Vegeta snapped back.

Nappa sighed inwardly. Vegeta just didn't handle people well. Even his allies were treated like dirt. He assumed it had to do with the abuse inflicted by Frieza and being the prince of an almost-extinct race. It just didn't rest well on the shoulder's of a small child.

… If Nappa felt pressure, he could only imagine the emotions running through the small boys mind constantly.

He blinked suddenly and saw that, while his thoughts had wandered aimlessly, he had been spotted. Vegeta's eyes were closed as he took deep even breaths but Hopkins, who must have heard his gasp earlier and chosen to ignore it at that time, was looking over at him. Her elfish features were a bit harsh in the fluorescent lighting and she lifted one finger, pointing at the door he had entered through. 'Get out', she mouthed.

Nappa stumbled up into a standing position and rocked back in surprise before he hurried over to the door and slipped out.

Hopkins was one of the few females on board so Nappa couldn't help but feel a bit torn about his opinion about her. Yes, it was pleasant to see somebody with long hair and a shapely body who wasn't named Zarbon, but at the same time- she was cold and mean. Kind of the definition of a bitch if you asked him.

Sighing, he decided it would be best to go to the cafeteria and eat. Even if the rations had been cut again; it was better than nothing.

Sitting in the cafeteria he looked over and saw Zarbon walk in. He walked straight over to Nappa and took a seat gracefully, "Hello, Nappa," he said with a shit-eating grin that did not make Nappa feel good in the least.

"Hey, Zarbon," he replied uneasily, taking a bite of his food slowly as he watched the green haired man staring him down across his table. The right-hand man of Frieza always made him nervous. Especially right now. Chit-chat was not something Zarbon did, especially not with any of the three Saiyans. Something was up.

"Have you see Prince Vegeta today?" the yellow eyes didn't waver as he watched Nappa for any abnormalities.

Nappa swallowed a big gulp, which was unnecessary considering how small the bite of food had been, "Nope. I figured he had gone training with Raditz. I've been on my own today!" he chuckled awkwardly at the end, smiling at Zarbon who he could have sworn twitched in irritation of his response.

"Lord Frieza had a talk with him today. I was making sure he wasn't spreading propaganda among you monkeys. Sometimes it spreads to the other warriors," Zarbon spoke down his nose to Nappa who blinked and waited for him to continue. He hadn't thought the Saiyans had had that much of an influence on the other people in the ship.

"However, those who are that stupid to believe Prince Vegeta's lies are expendable," Zarbon said, "He manipulated a girl today. The one in the medical bay… Oh whatever was her name…" he drew out the thoughts in a bored tone, flicking a piece of his hair out of his face making his earrings bob a little.

"Hopkins," Nappa said softly.

"Oh, that was it. Hopkins," Zarbon gave a sharp little laugh. "What a stupid girl. The entire medical staff knew better than her."

"Knew better than her to what?" Nappa asked.

"To help you imbecile monkeys," Zarbon stood up, leaning over and snatching one of the rolls from Nappa's plate. Before he could stop himself, Nappa snatched the roll back and snarled at Zarbon.

Not the smartest move he'd ever made, Nappa would acknowledge that. Zarbon snatched the roll back and slammed his fist into his face. Nappa fell to the ground roughly. "Ingrate," Zarbon hissed, spitting on Nappa before delivering a swift kick to his side and leaving the cafeteria. Nappa could hear the sound of laughter among the other soldiers of Frieza's ship but he regained composure and stood up slowly. He sat back down and ate the rest of his food silently before quickly leaving the room.

What did that mean? Nappa was just trying to wrap his entire mind around it. Suddenly he heard rapid footsteps running towards him. Turning he saw Raditz approaching him. "Dodoria just came in and interrogated me!" he stumbled to a halt in front of Nappa. "He kept asking me about my spar with Prince Vegeta and-"

"You didn't tell him the truth, did you!?" Nappa gawked at Raditz in shock.

"No! Of course not! I figured Vegeta had lied about something and used me as an alibi, as usual, so I took it and ran with it," Raditz looked over his shoulders to make sure nobody was listening in. He looked back up at Nappa with a frown, "Nappa, what's going on? He kept asking me about that girl in the medical bay-"

"What did you SAY?" Nappa demanded.

"I told him that she put Prince Vegeta in the rehabilitation tank and patched me up," Raditz frowned, "What really happened?" he added in a whisper.

Nappa grabbed Raditz's shoulder and forced him into their room. All three of the Saiyans were lucky in the fact they only roomed with each other. They weren't subjected to the prejudices of the rest of the staff and army.

"Prince Vegeta went to Frieza's quarters and, as usual, came out of it hurt. He went to the medical bay and talked the nurse, Hopkins, into putting him into the Rehabilitation Tank."

Raditz's face fell, "And Frieza's found out…"

Nappa frowned, "Looks like it. I got Zarbon on my case while I was eating."

"Better Zarbon than Dodoria. At least I don't feel the need to gauge my eyes out with Zarbon," Raditz mumbled and he crossed his arms.

There was a long moment of silence as the two stood there.

"… Where's Prince Vegeta, you think?" Raditz asked.

Nappa shook his head, "I don't know. I know that Hopkins girl must be dead though."

"Damn it all," Raditz hissed.

The door opened and the two men jumped away swiftly to face their barging enemy.

"Idiots. It's me," Vegeta spat, walking inside and through the space in-between the two large men over to his small cot.

"How are you, Prince Vegeta? I haven't seen you all day!" Nappa laughed, trying to lighten to mood.

"It's been a long day," Vegeta growled, crawling into bed. In the darkness of the room, Raditz and Nappa could see new bruises and burns that differed from the ones he'd seen on the prince's skin that morning.

"Yeah. No kidding. I got to talk to Dodoria," Raditz mumbled. "THAT was fun," he added sarcastically.

"I can imagine so," Vegeta said softly, rolling away from the two.

"I got Zarbon," Nappa huffed, "The bastard stole my roll."

There was a long moment of silence, "I got Frieza. He killed the only person in the medical bay who was willing to ever help me," Vegeta's hoarse voice said in the room.

Raditz and Nappa looked at each other, at a loss now.

"Prince Vegeta…"

"Stop it. I want to rest. I want this stupid day to end. Give me that much, you imbeciles. Give me a night to sleep," Vegeta snapped to shut up Nappa's pity.

"Of course," Nappa and Raditz said.

Nobody ever brought Hopkins up from that day on.


End file.
